If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.

The Muscle and Brawn Forum is dedicated to no nonsense muscle and strength building. If you need advice that works, you have come to the right place. This forum focuses on building strength and muscle using the basics. You will also find that the Muscle and Brawn community stresses encouragement and respect. Trolls and name calling are not allowed here. No matter what your personal goals are, you will be given effective advice that produces results.

Please consider registering. It takes 30 seconds, and will allow you to get the most out of the forum.

Just finished reading 531. Wendler was saying you can do calves 3 times a week for a set of 50 reps. Also how you should do 100 reps of chins for 1 week. Just remembering various articles on how abs and shrugs can be done just as often.

Where do you guys stand on this? After the main lift and assistance exercises you do one set of 20-50 reps of chins, shrugs, abs and calves? Overkill? Stupid question?

I did them for a while but ended up around 600lbs pretty quickly. If you're going to do them effectively they need to be heavy, but my thinking is that if I have the energy to load up the bar up to 600lbs then I obviously left something in the tank on Deadlifts. So why don't I just do more deadlifts?

Just my 2 cents, and why I stopped doing them. Nowadays deadlifts with very heavy band tension just do so much more for my traps then shrugs ever did and for lifters they're far more lift specific. So I'm sticking with them.

If we're talking rearward shrugs, scapulae/kelso shrugs then I'm all for them. They serve a specific purpose which isn't necessarily served by deadlifts or rows so they're useful.

I did pullups or chins between all sets of presses for a while and it was good. I shrugged myself into oblivion for a while and ended up with over 400kgs on the bar for reps, then I started to overhead press more often and cut out the shrugs and my trapz started growing.

Just finished reading 531. Wendler was saying you can do calves 3 times a week for a set of 50 reps. Also how you should do 100 reps of chins for 1 week. Just remembering various articles on how abs and shrugs can be done just as often.

Where do you guys stand on this? After the main lift and assistance exercises you do one set of 20-50 reps of chins, shrugs, abs and calves? Overkill? Stupid question?

Calves are a really dense muscle group because of their use in everday walking activities and such, so it stands to reason they can take more of a pounding than most of us give them credit for...they also need heavy and/or more endurance specific work or even a mix, for them to respond well. Trial and error on that one.

I have done calves up to 4 times a week and I liked it, abs 6 days a week, upper back/lats 4 days a week(2 heavy, 2 light). It can be done!! Your body can handle more work then the average gym rat thinks it can.